Maestro vs Vibe Kanban: a kanban board or agent workspaces?

Vibe Kanban is one of the most-starred open source tools in this space. It is worth knowing where it stands: on April 10, 2026 Bloop, the company behind it, announced it was shutting down. The hosted features (kanban issues, comments, projects, and organisations) were removed after 30 days, while "local workspaces will continue to function" and the project continues as open source, maintained by its community. Releases have continued since, including a pre-release in September 2026.

	Maestro	Vibe Kanban
Interface	Desktop app: sidebar of workspaces, chat, terminal, diff, editor	Kanban board in the browser, started with `npx vibe-kanban`¹
Install	Installer for macOS (Apple Silicon), Windows 10/11, Linux (x86_64); auto-updates	One `npx` command; self-hostable with Docker¹
Coding agents	Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Kimi Code, Grok Build, plain shell	Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Amp, Cursor, OpenCode, Droid, CCR, Qwen Code¹
Isolation	Git worktree per workspace, own branch	Git worktree per task, plus setup scripts¹
Review	Diff with inline comments sent to the agent; PR creation; browser preview	Diff with inline comments; app preview¹
From your phone	Maestro Web: free mobile web app with live turns, steering, diffs, push notifications	No mobile app; remote access means setting up your own tunnel or SSH host¹
Maintained by	Maestro's maker; frequent releases	Its open source community since Bloop shut down in April 2026²
License	Source-available (BSL-1.1)	Open source (Apache-2.0)¹
Price	Free	Free

1. Per the Vibe Kanban README and vibekanban.com, checked September 25, 2026.

2. Per "Goodbye bloop" (April 10, 2026) and the releases page.

Where Vibe Kanban is the better pick

You think in tickets. Planning, running, and reviewing all happen on one board, so a backlog of small tasks maps directly onto agents. Maestro has no board; its unit is a workspace.
You use Gemini CLI, Copilot, Amp, Droid, or Qwen Code. Vibe Kanban integrates all of them. Maestro does not; they would run in a plain shell workspace without the chat view.
You want Apache-2.0 open source. It is a permissive license with a community behind it. Maestro's source is published under BSL-1.1, which is source-available, not open source.
You want nothing to install. One npx command and it opens in your browser. You can also self-host it with Docker.

Where Maestro is the better pick

You want steady releases. Vibe Kanban's releases now depend on community volunteers: its latest stable release is from April 2026, followed by a pre-release in September. Maestro ships regular releases that auto-update on all three platforms; see the changelog.
You want to check on agents from your phone. Maestro Web is a free, installable mobile web app: watch turns stream live, send or queue messages, attach a screenshot, review diffs, and get a push notification when an agent finishes or needs you. Agents keep running on your own machine, so it needs to stay awake. Our guide to using Claude Code from your phone covers the other options too.
You want a desktop app, not a browser tab. Terminal, Monaco editor with Jupyter notebooks, browser preview with freeze-frame annotations, and a command palette live in one window.
You use Kimi Code or Grok Build, or work on SSH hosts. Both harnesses are built in, and a project can be a remote machine over SSH, including behind a bastion.

Switching from Vibe Kanban

Your code is safe either way: Vibe Kanban's work lives in git branches in your own repository. If you had issues or comments on Bloop's hosted service, those were removed with the shutdown; the announcement says the latest Vibe Kanban version includes a data export feature for your local data.

Commit or merge the task branches you want to keep Anything still open on your board becomes a list of branches and a list of prompts.

Install Maestro and add the repository Free for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It uses the agent CLIs and logins you already have.

One workspace per open card Start each "From branch" to continue a task, or from a GitHub or Linear issue for new work.

FAQ

Is Vibe Kanban dead?

No. The company behind it shut down, but the project continues as open source and community-maintained, and local workspaces keep working. The hosted collaboration features are gone.

Does Maestro have a kanban board?

No. Maestro lists workspaces in a sidebar with live status for each agent. If a board is how you plan, Vibe Kanban suits you better.

Do both use git worktrees?

Yes. Each task or workspace gets its own worktree, so agents running at the same time do not overwrite each other. For the underlying technique, see how to run Claude Code in parallel.

What do they cost?

Both are free. You bring your own agent accounts or API keys with either one.

What other tools are there?

See our overview of tools to run coding agents in parallel.

Sources (checked September 2026)

github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban: README (install, agents, review, self-hosting, remote SSH, Apache-2.0 license, sunset notice)
vibekanban.com: features and sunset notice
vibekanban.com/blog/shutdown: "Goodbye bloop", April 10, 2026
github.com/BloopAI/vibe-kanban/releases: release history

Maestro is an independent project, not affiliated with Vibe Kanban or Bloop. Vibe Kanban details come from its public site and repository as of September 25, 2026; if something is out of date, check the repo.